Curauá fibers in the automobile industry – a sustainability assessment

Replacing glass fibers with natural fibers in the automobile industry can yield economic, environmental and social benefits. This article evaluates the prospective environmental impacts of automobile applications of curauá fiber (Ananas erectifolius), which nearly equates the physical properties of glass fibers. The study identified economic and social advantages of applying curauá fiber composites in car parts. Besides costing 50% less than fiber glass, the use of curauá fibers can promote regional development in the Amazon region. In order to realize significant environmental benefits, however, the curauá-based composites would have to be lighter than their glass fiber-based counterparts.     

Environmental management accounting (EMA) as the next step in the evolution of management accounting

Why should organizations and accountants care about environmental issues? Environmental performance and disclosure pressures from the supply chain, finance providers, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders result in ever-increasing environment-related costs for organizations, but there is also an increasing recognition of the potential monetary benefits of improved environmental performance. There is also growing consensus that traditional accounting practices do not adequately provide the information required for environmental management and the strategic decisions related to it.Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) has been promoted by the Working Group on EMA of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development UN DSD EMA WG and the publications commissioned by it [UNDESA/DSD, 2001. United Nations Division for Sustainable Development. Environmental Management Accounting, Procedures and Principles. United Nations Publications, New York/Geneva, http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/technology/estema1.htm; UNDESA/DSD, 2002. United Nations Division for Sustainable Development. Environmental Management Accounting: Policies and Linkages. United Nations Publications, New York/Geneva, http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/technology/estema1.htm]. Recently, IFAC has published a guidance document on EMA [International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), 2005. International Guidance Document of EMA. IFAC, New York, http://www.ifac.org] that will further promote its application among accountants.This special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production on EMA focuses on this methodological background as well as upon experiences from case studies from Australia, Austria, Argentina, Canada, Japan and Lithuania.     

Pro-active behaviour induction by integration of sustainability in business strategic management: INOVE project case study

INOVE was a regional partnership project and had two main goals: finding and helping to implement solutions for real business problems, in order to increase their competitiveness according to sustainable development; and dissemination of new concepts, methodologies and tools of sustainability. Members of the partnership were: INETI, CEISET, eight companies, a polytechnic institute and a university.Knowledge transfer was implemented during 15 workshops and simultaneously was put in practice on companies' sites by mixed teams.Economic indicators were definitely positive; environmental indicators such as materials, water and energy consumption, waste generation and liquid and gaseous emissions were improved and social issues such as stakeholders' information and involvement were introduced into the business strategy of the companies.     

企业环境管理会计核算框架与方法研究

企业环境管理会计从环境的角度,将企业的环境影响纳入到环境会计的核算范围之内,构建一些实物型或价值型的环境业绩指标,表达企业对环境造成的影响或损害。本文立足于国际环境会计应用案例,结合财务会计特征和我国目前的环境教据基础,研究提出了中国企业环境管理会计的基本内涵和方法框架,并就如何加强企业环境管理会计的应用进行了讨论。     

电子政务工程项目档案管理的思考与实践

项目档案管理对于电子政务工程项目的成功实施具有十分重要的意义。通过对电子政务工程项目档案特性的分析,探讨了当前项目档案管理中存在的问题,提出了加强档案管理的措施和建议。并以国家环境信息与统计能力建设项目为例,对项目档案管理流程、手段和要求做了详细论述,为电子政务工程项目档案管理提供了有益的经验借鉴。     

Potential and sustainability for carbon sequestration with improved soil management in agricultural soils of China

Arable land soils generally have lower organic carbon (C) levels than soils under native vegetation; increasing the C stocks through improved management is suggested as an effective means to sequester CO₂ from the atmosphere. China's arable lands, accounting for 13% of the world's total, play an important role in soil C sequestration, but their potential to enhance C sequestration has not yet been quantitatively assessed. The C sequestration by agricultural soils is affected by many environmental factors (such as climate and soil conditions), biological processes (crop C fixation, decomposition and transformation), and crop and soil management (e.g. tillage and manure application). Estimation of the C sequestration potential requires the quantification of the combined effects of these factors and processes. In this study, we used a coupled remote sensing- and process-based ecosystem model to estimate the potential for C sequestration in agricultural soils of China and evaluated the sustainability of soil C uptake under different soil management options. The results show that practicing no-tillage on 50% of the arable lands and returning 50% of the crop residue to soils would lead to an annual soil C sequestration of 32.5 Tg C, which accounts for about 4% of China's current annual C emission. Soil C sequestration with improved soil management is highly time-dependent; the effect lasted for only 20–80 years. Generally, practicing no-tillage causes higher rate and longer sustainability of soil C sequestration than only increasing crop residue into soils. The potential for soil C sequestration varied greatly among different regions due to the differences in climate, soil conditions and crop productivity.     

Impact of ship-Breaking activities on the coastal environment of Bangladesh and a management system for its sustainability

Ship breaking or recycling in Bangladesh has been a catalyst for the economy by supporting the steel, shipbuilding, furniture, building construction, machinery and electrical industries since the 1980s. Although it has generated huge employment and provided 80–90% of the total steel consumption in the country, it has faced a host of challenges due to a number of negative environmental and social impacts that hinder the sustainable development of this blooming sector. The objective of this paper is to focus on how ship-breaking activities in Bangladesh affect the adjacent environment and the health and safety of workers, as well as management’s approach to the sustainability of the industry, by conducting a review of the available scientific literature. We found that grave environmental pollution, such as physiochemical properties, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs), organotins, oil and grease pollution, asbestos and other atmospheric pollutants, and its impact on marine ecosystems, biodiversity, forestry, fisheries and human health are the main obstacles for the development of a sustainable ship-breaking industry. In addition, labour safety and occupational health problems, social unrest and conflicts have resulted from the development of the ship-breaking industry in Bangladesh. Inappropriate management practices and inadequate plans regarding ship-breaking activities and processes are the main reasons for these challenges. Effective management measures to mitigate the adverse environmental impact of the ship-breaking industry and to improve the health and safety of workers have now become an urgent requirement.     

建设项目环境监理工作有效性管理的探讨

透视建设项目环境监理发展的历程,环境保护工作的伟力与孱弱并存本文就是针对这方面问题展开论述,探讨有效的管理措施,以便为建设项目环境监理工作提供参考。     

Incorporating sustainability into supply management in the automotive industry – the case of the Volkswagen AG

Companies are perceived as important actors in the drive for sustainability. Linked to this, and in response to increasing demands from various stakeholder groups, companies start to look at their supply chain to enhance their overall sustainability profile. Two major triggers can be identified: (1) focal companies are held responsible for environmental and social problems caused by their suppliers, which become more and more important as (2) an increasing share of value is created at the supplier level. In response to such demands, companies have to find ways to incorporate environmental and social aspects into their supply (chain) management. Therefore, environmental and social standards are integrated into supply management by amending the purchasing processes. This paper presents one approach to integrate social and environmental standards into supply policy and supply management at the Volkswagen AG, a focal company of the automobile industry. Therefore, required changes of the sourcing and supply structures were identified during an action research project, and possible options adaptable for company internal integration are shown.     

Results of the first adapted design for sustainability project in a South Pacific small island developing state: Fiji

With high population densities concentrated in predominately coastal zones, the South Pacific will, in this century, be heavily impacted by global temperature and sea level rises. Small island developing states do have a number of unique problems, namely, small scale economic development together with environmental sustainability. This paper presents the lessons learnt from the implementation of the first cleaner production and design initiative project conducted in a Pacific small island developing state(s) (SIDS) using the design for sustainability (D4S) methodology. The final product was analysed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Implemented within a medium-sized enterprise operating in Fiji, the Cook Islands, and Samoa, the project focused on improving an existing product and its associated life cycle to make it more environmentally friendly to manufacture, retail, and dispose of. The project outcomes revealed that D4S provides a suitable tool for a country like Fiji to pursue more intensively an eco-friendly manufacturing agenda. However, when combined with LCA, the qualitative nature of D4S shows that not all solutions produce the best overall result. Specifically, the “improved” design, whilst being less impactful on Fiji in terms of disposal, has a higher impact globally due to the production and manufacture of the new materials used. For this reason designers need to address the impact criteria and decide whether a domestic or international agenda is of greater concern within the SIDS context.     

Green supply chain management: pressures,practices and performance within the Chinese automobile industry

Increasing pressures from a variety of directions have caused the Chinese automobile supply chain managers to consider and initiate implementation of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices to improve both their economic and environmental performance. Expanding on some earlier work investigating general GSCM practices in China, this paper explores the GSCM pressures/drivers (motivators), initiatives and performance of the automotive supply chain using an empirical analysis of 89 automotive enterprises within China. The results show that the Chinese automobile supply chain enterprises have experienced high and increasing regulatory and market pressures and at the same time have strong internal drivers for GSCM practice adoption. However, their GSCM implementation, especially with consideration of external relationships, is poor. Therefore, GSCM implementation has only slightly improved environmental and operational performance, and has not resulted in significant economic performance improvement. In furthering this analysis we investigate one specific organization in this supply chain, the Dalian Diesel Engine Plant, and how this pioneering company has addressed the issues identified by the broader empirical analysis.     

Managing environmental quality at the enterprise: the role of project management

An exploratory field study conducted in Europe and the U.S. examines the challenges of managing environmental quality at the enterprise level. The results show that effective environmental quality management depend to a considerable degree on the ability to deal with the multidisciplinary organizational, technical, social, and cultural issues involved in the integration of environmental cost accounting at the enterprise level. The study suggests that the tools and techniques of modern project management can provide an important framework for developing and implementing environmental quality control systems. The recommendations put considerable emphasis on the human side, focusing on the criteria under which environmental quality is best achievable. Strong senior management leadership, people skills, organizational linkages, and alliances, all are critical for dealing with the complexities of managing responsibly toward sustained developments in today’s organizations.     

An integrated approach to achieving campus sustainability: assessment of the current campus environmental management practices

Universities can nowadays be regarded as ‘small cities’ due to their large size, population, and the various complex activities taking place in campuses, which have some serious direct and indirect impacts on the environment. The environmental pollution and degradation caused by universities in form of energy and material consumption via activities and operations in teaching and research, provision of support services and in residential areas could be considerably reduced by an effective choice of organizational and technical measures. Although many environmental protection measures can be seen at some universities, but a more systematic and sustainable approach to reducing the negative impacts of those activities and making the campuses more sustainable, is generally lacking. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework of a more suitable approach to achieving campus sustainability that could remedy the limitations of the current environmental management practices in universities and ensures more sustainability through the integration of three strategies, namely: university Environmental Management System (EMS); public participation and social responsibility; and promoting sustainability in teaching and research.     

Simplified life cycle sustainability assessment of mangrove management: a case of plantation on wastelands in Thailand

Sustainable mangrove management needs to consider trade-offs between multiple benefits provided by mangrove ecosystems and to balance the conflicting objectives of various stakeholders. The aim of the present study is to assess the sustainability of mangrove management based on the life cycle approach. We examine two mangrove management systems in Thailand, namely, the strict preservation and charcoal production systems. The results show that the strict preservation system has an advantage over the charcoal production system from the environmental perspective (the net amount of CO₂ absorbed by mangroves) while the charcoal production is a more favorable system than strict preservation from the social perspective (the amount of employment created in local communities). On the other hand, it is difficult to say that both systems are sustainable from an economic aspect. The charcoal production system needs to develop improved management regimes for commercial charcoal production and requires financial assistance in the period when its net cash flows are negative. As solutions for these problems, the introduction of community forest management and the utilization of a fund for REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries) can be proposed.     

建设项目竣工验收监测中的环境管理现场检查

分析了建设项目竣工验收环境保护监测环境管理现场检查中存在的主要问题,从健全机制体制、完善标准法规、提高监测人员技术水平、加强企业和公众环保教育等方面提出了建议,为建设项目验收环境监测更好地服务环境管理和社会经济提供对策.     

Flash flood forecasting, warning and risk management: the HYDRATE project

The management of flash flood hazards and risks is a critical component of public safety and quality of life. Flash-floods develop at space and time scales that conventional observation systems are not able to monitor for rainfall and river discharge. Consequently, the atmospheric and hydrological generating mechanisms of flash-floods are poorly understood, leading to highly uncertain forecasts of these events. The objective of the HYDRATE project has been to improve the scientific basis of flash flood forecasting by advancing and harmonising a European-wide innovative flash flood observation strategy and developing a coherent set of technologies and tools for effective early warning systems. To this end, the project included actions on the organization of the existing flash flood data patrimony across Europe. The final aim of HYDRATE was to enhance the capability of flash flood forecasting in ungauged basins by exploiting the extended availability of flash flood data and the improved process understanding. This paper provides a review of the work conducted in HYDRATE with a special emphasis on how this body of research can contribute to guide the policy-life cycle concerning flash flood risk management.     

光合细菌处理淀粉废水的中试研究

利用光合细菌连续处理工艺,在适宜条件下进行淀粉废水处理的中试研究。中试系统日处理量为４ｍ３,ＣＯＤＣｒ最大容积负荷６．７１ｋｇ／（ｍ３·ｄ）,ＣＯＤ去除率为９５．７％。该法所得菌泥可作为饲料添加剂,具有较好的经济效益。